Trump Keeps In Place Obama-Era AIDS Strategy

By

Carlos Santoscoy

|
June 14, 2018

The Trump administration has signaled
its support for a strategy to combat AIDS issued by the Obama
administration.

The Department of Health & Human
Services' Office of HIV/AIDS & Infectious Disease Policy said in
a 69-page
progress report that “the Trump administration has affirmed its
support” for the 2010 national AIDS strategy, which was issued by
the Obama administration.

The strategy was cheered by AIDS
activists who had criticized previous administrations for not
outlining a comprehensive strategy for combating the epidemic
domestically. An update to the strategy was released in 2015, and
officials have said they will continue updating it every five years.

“Our country is at a crossroads,”
former President Barack Obama said in a letter announcing the policy.
“Right now, we are experiencing a domestic epidemic that demands a
renewed commitment, increased public attention, and leadership.”

“We're pleased that they adopted
this,” Schmid
said. “We know it was approved by the secretary's office and
that they're moving forward. Commitment to ending AIDS was in there,
which is really important and that they want to also start the
process of drafting a new strategy.”

The policy was groundbreaking in its
inclusion of setting a goal of reducing stigma associated with the
disease, as well as focusing resources on groups most at risk for
infection, including gay and bisexual men and African-Americans.

In December, Trump fired the remaining
members of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) after
six members resigned in June, 2017 over the administration's inaction
on the epidemic.